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Washington's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020 (August 4 top-two primary)

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2022
2018
Washington's 3rd Congressional District
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
Top-two primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: May 15, 2020
Primary: August 4, 2020
General: November 3, 2020

Pre-election incumbent:
Jaime Herrera Beutler (Republican)
How to vote
Poll times: Poll opening hours vary; close at 8 p.m. (most voting done by mail)
Voting in Washington
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Lean Republican
Inside Elections: Lean Republican
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
See also
Washington's 3rd Congressional District
1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th
Washington elections, 2020
U.S. Congress elections, 2020
U.S. Senate elections, 2020
U.S. House elections, 2020

A top-two primary took place on August 4, 2020, in Washington's 3rd Congressional District to determine which two candidates would run in the district's general election on November 3, 2020.

Incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler and Carolyn Long advanced from the primary for U.S. House Washington District 3.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
May 15, 2020
August 4, 2020
November 3, 2020


Heading into the election, the incumbent was Jaime Herrera Beutler (Republican), who was first elected in 2010.

Washington uses a top-two primary system, in which all candidates appear on the same ballot, for congressional and state-level elections. The top two vote-getters move on to the general election, regardless of their party affiliation. In states that do not use a top-two system, all parties are usually able to put forward a candidate for the general election if they choose to.[2][3]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Washington's 3rd Congressional District's top-two primary. For more in-depth information on the district's general election, see the following page:

Candidates and election results

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House Washington District 3

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jaime Herrera Beutler
Jaime Herrera Beutler (R)
 
56.2
 
135,726
Image of Carolyn Long
Carolyn Long (D) Candidate Connection
 
39.7
 
95,875
Image of Martin Hash
Martin Hash (Unaffiliated)
 
1.6
 
3,904
Image of Davy Ray
Davy Ray (D)
 
1.5
 
3,522
Devin Gray (D)
 
0.8
 
1,969
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
343

Total votes: 241,339
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+4, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 4 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Washington's 3rd Congressional District the 205th most Republican nationally.[4]

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.00. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.00 points toward that party.[5]

Campaign finance

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Jaime Herrera Beutler Republican Party $4,623,991 $4,586,794 $86,164 As of December 31, 2020
Devin Gray Democratic Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***
Carolyn Long Democratic Party $4,187,791 $4,199,936 $18,007 As of December 31, 2020
Davy Ray Democratic Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***
Martin Hash Unaffiliated $0 $0 $0 Data not available***

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.
*** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.


General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

  • Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
  • Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
  • Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[6]
  • Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[7][8][9]

Race ratings: Washington's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020
Race trackerRace ratings
November 3, 2020October 27, 2020October 20, 2020October 13, 2020
The Cook Political ReportLean RepublicanLean RepublicanLikely RepublicanLikely Republican
Inside Elections with Nathan L. GonzalesLean RepublicanLikely RepublicanLikely RepublicanLikely Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal BallLean RepublicanLikely RepublicanLikely RepublicanLikely Republican
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Washington is a vote-by-mail state. Early voting dates and polling hours apply to county-level vote centers where individuals can instead vote in person.
  2. NCSL, "State Primary Election Types," accessed October 3, 2024
  3. Washington Secretary of State, "Top 2 Primary: FAQs for Candidates," accessed October 3, 2024
  4. Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
  5. FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
  6. Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
  7. Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
  8. Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
  9. Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018


Senators
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
Democratic Party (10)
Republican Party (2)